Long empty above the first floor, the building at the corner of Powell and O'Farrell streets housed a newsstand and smoke shop until 2005. Now there's a chain store selling caps for tourists, but the neon-trimmed marquee of the former newsstand remains. less

Long empty above the first floor, the building at the corner of Powell and O'Farrell streets housed a newsstand and smoke shop until 2005. Now there's a chain store selling caps for tourists, but the ... more

Photo: John King, The Chronicle

Image 4 of 4

Long empty above the first floor, the building at the corner of Powell and O'Farrell streets housed a newsstand and smoke shop until 2005. Now there's a chain store selling caps for tourists, but the neon-trimmed marquee of the former newsstand remains. less

Long empty above the first floor, the building at the corner of Powell and O'Farrell streets housed a newsstand and smoke shop until 2005. Now there's a chain store selling caps for tourists, but the ... more

Photo: John King, The Chronicle

Neon marquee tells of Union Square's past

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Historic preservation can be heartening and problematic at once. For decades this corner building housed a newsstand. The shop was replaced in 2005 by a chain selling logo'd caps, but planners determined the neon marquee to be "a significant and familiar character-defining feature of this part of the district ... bearing witness to an important business type and signage style of a by-gone era." It is, and it does. It also has an air of sanctified obsolescence, more out of place each year. The relic endures. The culture that gave it meaning does not.

Cityscape is a weekly look at a distinct slice of San Francisco. And a hearty happy holidays from jking@sfchronicle.com

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